water quality

Because of their proximity to agriculture and agribusinesses, rural people have significant exposures to bioaerosols, organic dust, and allergens; agricultural pesticides and farm chemicals; and antibiotic resistant pathogens from the livestock industry. Hazardous waste sites in rural areas often go ignored, leading to significant air- and waterborne exposures. Seventy percent of rural residents get their drinking water from private, unregulated water supplies whereas virtually all urban dwellers drink public water that is regulated and monitored.

The EHSRC is well positioned in America’s heartland to investigate a variety of exposures and diseases related to agricultural activity and rural life, including remediation of rural hazardous waste sites and impaired water quality arising from excessive inputs of manure producing risks of methemoglobinemia and harmful algal blooms.